People v. Patel CA4/1

STATEMENT OF FACTS

After a burglary at IQHQ, a commercial establishment that had been undergoing renovations, law enforcement learned that Brandy Ruiz was using a credit card that had been taken during the burglary. During a search of Ruiz’s cell phone, officers discovered Patel’s cell phone number and a video of Patel and Ruiz with items that had been taken during the burglary, including laptops, monitors and televisions, and moving them from a shipping container into Patel’s car. Ruiz inventoried the items in Patel’s car: “So two Samsung, one Dell, two laptops, I mean, two keyboards, and seven laptops. Cool.” Patel and Ruiz discussed that the laptops were worth “two grand” and that Ruiz’s boyfriend, Dustin Greear, “wants to try to get at least half.” Patel stated that Greear told Patel to “sell ‘em for half’ ” and then split the proceeds with Greear. In the video, after loading the car, Patel and Ruiz went inside the shipping container, which contained additional boxes of electronics as well as bottles of liquor. Patel opened a box that contained sports trading cards and commented on their value. Ruiz agreed and said that she had told Greear, “Babe, good news, we can finally…